The invention relates to a valve assembly comprising a valve housing with a valve seat, a spindle which is arranged in the valve housing, the spindle being arranged perpendicularly with respect to the flow direction, and a shutoff element which can be connected movably to the spindle and has a sealing element.
In pipeline construction, different valve designs are used in order to shut off pipelines which are pressurized and carry medium. Different factors play an important role in the selection of the valve design: the sealing action between the valve seat and the sealing element, the coefficient of resistance of the valve, the dimensions and the production costs of the valve.
DE 196 46 275 A1 has disclosed a valve, in which the valve spindle is arranged so as to extend perpendicularly with respect to the flow direction. The shutoff element and the sealing element are arranged at two different angles to the flow direction. The actual sealing element, an O-ring, is integrated into the valve housing on its outer circumferential face. The axes of the inflow and outflow lines are arranged offset with respect to one another, which leads to a higher coefficient of resistance. More than half the annular circumferential face lies free and is exposed to the flowing medium when the valve is open. The sealing action of the O-ring is not distributed uniformly over the entire circumference. The O-ring is loaded and deformed in an upper region above all in the direction of the O-ring axis. In a lower region the O-ring is loaded and deformed above all in the radial direction.
Proceeding from this prior art, it is an object of the invention to specify a valve assembly which can be produced simply and compactly from as few individual parts as possible and ensures as satisfactory a sealing action as possible.